DREX LIVE: CBC closes comments on indigenous stories

The CBC has made an editorial decision to close online comments in stories dealing with aboriginal issues.

The broadcaster made the announcement today, saying it would keep comments closed for several months while it reviewed how they are moderated and came up with new guidelines.

CBC writes the decision was made because, while it wants to encourage differing opinions, it draws the line at hate speech or racism. The broadcaster says in recent months racist and inappropriate comments were appearing far too often in stories with an indigenous focus.

“We’ve seen thoughtful, insightful and moving comments on our pages. We’ve seen ignorant, ill-informed and objectionable comments as well. All of it is acceptable, in our view, in a marketplace of ideas. … We find ourselves with a unique situation when it comes to indigenous-related stories. We’ve noticed over many months that these stories draw a disproportionate number of comments that cross the line and violate our guidelines.”

Tough call

The debate about online comments is nothing new. Newspapers in the Sun and Glacier chain have closed them, as have online sites like The Verge and Daily Dot. Even the CBC itself has admitted that the cost and effort of moderating comments to weed out “trolls” and violent speech is a problem.

But the comment section also functions as a place where listeners can engage with a broadcaster, as well as a place to air competing ideas.

On air tonight, Drex and Eric illustrated the basic division with opposing points of view:

“Should some stories not have comments? Some times I don’t care what you think. It’s just a story. It’s a story for you to consume, and make a decision about in your own time and post that all over your Facebook.”
“I think all stories should have comments. And everyone, no matter how stupid should be allowed to comment.”

What do you think?

So are there stories that shouldn’t be open to comments? That a media company closes because there would be no value added by asking for feedback?

We wanted to know what you think about this, so we opened the lines to listeners. Here’s a sample of what you had to say:

Alex texted to say the problem could mostly be solved by making people sign their names to their words.

“Leave all the comments, but no more anonymous posts. Don’t hide behind the net to be ignorant.”

While Ryan called to say websites need comments today to be financially viable.

“I think it’s a bit of a necessary evil. Media isn’t exactly doing well financially these days. And these comments, they drive views and ultimately drive revenue.”

Curtis says comments should be left open because reporters sometimes miss key information, and context needs to be added to a story.

“Because nowadays journalists don’t do their work. I’m generalizing, but I would say – I actually do some work doing press releases because I work with a non profit organization, and quite often people don’t get the facts right.”

Listen: Drex Live team and listeners weigh in on CBC suspending comments on Indigenous stories

The CBC is Canada’s Pravda . . . living large off the Canadian Taxpayer.
The last thing the CBC want is an intellectual debate . . .
Pravda by the way was the Soviet Union Propaganda Machine back in the day !

The Indian Industry is a blight on Canada. Band members are treated like surfs of the middle-ages, while most Chiefs live like 1%ers.

Don . . . as long as I can remember, the CBC has been the propaganda arm of the LPC . . . the FACT that the 6,000 member strong Media Union worked as a registered Liberall Campaign Machine in the last election might just seal the deal that they are far from “Neutral” Observers.

Earlier this year, former CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson exposed how the media has been corrupted by political, corporate and other special interests in order to effectively manipulate and distort the message the media is putting out to the American public.

cknw talk radio has traded live talk for their comment sections, call our listener line , go to our face book page, twitter etc. In stead of allowing people to say what they think on the phone live with the host.
Allowing the listener to speak directly has gone. I assume for the P.C. crowd of hosts who don’t have the knowledge to speak directly to the people.
They ask you to phone their listener line so they can cherry pick an opinion that reflects their P.C. agenda not what real people think about certain stories.

great comment.
I had posted a reply earlier about how the practice of censoring that you speak of is used to give credibility to the opinion of the “journalist” regardless of its truth.
Unfortunately it was censored.

It’s not quite the same thing Richard. For all we know there could be fine print in the contract that does not allow them to arbitrarily cancel the show. C2C also has guests that are pro-anthropologic climate change.

I’ve noticed a passive form of censorship on this site increasing over the last 6 months taking the form of not posting certain on-air stories and having comments closed on a regular basis for certain topics .
The argument for the latter could be the reporters are too busy to vet the postings. But that becomes pretty lame very fast. And there is no excuse for editorializing news reports.

I’ve wanted CBC-TV cut off from tax-payer funding and cast adrift years ago. Let it fill a self-sustaining public broadcasting niche.

We live in a “Post Media” world today . . .
Far-left journalism schools have turned out mostly young, underpaid, indoctrinated, echo-chamber willing participants in the marxist utopian dream.
Critical thinking, Debate and Science are today ignored as insanities like Gorebull Warming and the concept that puny man can control the weather are pushed on the uninformed.

Gone are the days when Reporters Reported the Facts . . . today it’s all about feelings, opinion and spin ! ! !

It’s amazing to what degree of consistency history repeats itself. For thousands of years, the process of empire building invariably started with a group of people forced to work together to assure their survival. The society Hands eagerly deferred to the society Heads, but once survival is assured and that particular society begins to enjoy a degree of prosperity, Hands become convinced they no longer need Heads and in the name of fairness cut them off. And once that is done, the decline of a civilization, or an empire if you prefer, begins—slowly at first, with a bang at the end, never to be rebuilt ever again.

Decades of ‘Trojan Horse’ Leftism has muddled the modern mind to where the concepts of ‘tolerance,’ ‘fairness,’ and ‘sanity,’ have been turned on their heads. I graduated from HS in ’65, one of the last ‘classes’ to escape before critical thinking was banned and ‘zombism’ became public education’s overall purpose statement (as noted by the quote from atheist philosopher, Bertrand Russell.)

Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead. — Aristotle, 384–322 B.C.

The left is never required to prove anything. Leftists make a statement and whatever they say automatically becomes true because they say it is so. We are expected to choke down their swill without a murmur of protest.

Every media outlet, whether entertainment, mainstream media or our elected representatives tells us only what they want us to believe regardless of how frequently what they tell us changes. And a dumbed-down populace meekly swallows, without dispute.

Progessives have controlled education, social services and PC for nearly 100 years. “Low information voters” are created when only low information is made available; when indoctrination replaces education. An eighth grade education used to be tantamount to what is currently taught in college. The left’s agenda may well be the destruction of our ability to think, to be logical. Without such aptitude there is no rule of law. Everything becomes mutable. The Constitution becomes disposable. Without thought we are unable to protect ourselves. We become the pawns of whoever governs over us. Absence of logical thought makes it easy to see how the man spearheading our ruin got reelected.

Yes Dale! G B Shaw was fond of saying”The only gap in my education was when I went to School”
God forbid we tell it like it is anymore. The order of the day is Political correctness. A grey cloud or mist must steal away the cold hard facts of life from a clear objective view. Cannot hurt anyone’s feelings. Result the status quo prevails and no point in improvement. Welcome to the Brave new World.

The Aboriginal leaders must be held accountable to criticism, otherwise they will never improve their lot. Opportunities for improvement are wasted if constructive criticism is not valued. The best gift the elders can pass on to their young is to be accountable and self sufficient. This typical response is both sad and lamentable.

Let’s face facts. The few always screw it up for the many. Constuctive criticism wouldn’t have shut the comments down. If you read the trash that gets written on this site you know that to be true. These sites are pretty much unanimous so there is very little to stop the running mouths of ranters.

One of the reason why this has become such an issue on the CBC regarding indigenous articles is what is deemed as inappropriate. If you post a comment where you refer to all Canadians including First Nations as Canadians you are called out for promoting genocide and your comment usually gets disabled.